It\u2019s totally understandable for Bengals fans to be nervous going into Sunday\u2019s season-opener for multiple reasons.<\/p>\n
First and foremost, the Bengals have struggled mightily in their season openers over the last three seasons. Second, Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett has gotten to Joe Burrow in just about every game Burrow has played against Garrett and the Browns since his rookie season in 2020. Third, the Bengals\u2019 defense left a lot to be desired during the preseason.<\/p>\n
However, there are also multiple reasons for optimism going into Sunday\u2019s season-opener. Even with playing their starters in the preseason, the Bengals emerged from training camp and the preseason healthy. In the preseason, Joe Burrow and the Bengals\u2019 offense looked crisp, in sync, and as if there was a sense of urgency to what they were doing.<\/p>\n
Joe Burrow said Wednesday of this week that his body is in a place it hasn\u2019t been in years past, and he added that he\u2019ll take the way he\u2019s feeling right now every day of the week.<\/p>\n
Burrow is also running more this year. That\u2019s a scary message to the rest of the NFL.<\/p>\n
Browns fans and media members who cover the team sound very confident that the Browns can upset the Bengals this week. However, this is not the feeling we had going into the season opener two years ago. This year is different. I can feel it, and I hope you can too.<\/p>\n
Ahead of Sunday\u2019s game in Cleveland, let\u2019s look at Browns quarterback Joe Flacco and the other key Browns players to watch on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Quarterback: #15 Joe Flacco (18th Season) \u2014 6-6, 245 lbs. Delaware <\/p>\n
The MVP of Super Bowl XLVII when he was the quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens, throwing for a record-tying 11 passing touchdowns in the Playoffs, Flacco got on another hot streak in December of 2023 when he led the Cleveland Browns to four straight wins to make the Playoffs. Now, he\u2019s back in Cleveland and will be starting the season opener for the Browns.<\/p>\n
This is good for the Bengals. Flacco is good enough that the Bengals can\u2019t take him lightly, but he\u2019s also not going to scare the Bengals\u2019 defense with dynamic playmaking abilities. He\u2019s 9-12 in his career against the Bengals, with losses in each of his last three starts against Cincinnati.<\/p>\n
Flacco was named Comeback Player of the Year in 2023, and he has thrown for 45,697 yards in his career with 257 touchdowns. He didn\u2019t miss a start through his first seven seasons, leading the Ravens to the Playoffs six times with a playoff win in each of those seasons. He played two seasons at Pittsburgh before playing his final three seasons at Delaware. The Ravens drafted Flacco 18th overall in the 2008 NFL Draft, and he made his first start in the season-opener against the Bengals when he threw for 129 yards and rushed for 37 yards and a touchdown.<\/p>\n
Four Players to Watch on the Browns<\/p>\n
1. #95: Edge Rusher Myles Garrett \u2014 6-4, 272 lbs. Texas A&M<\/p>\n
2024 Stats: 14 SK, 22 TFL, 28 QBH, 3 FF, 1 FR, 1 PD<\/p>\n
No secrets here. Myles Garrett is one of the most intimidating players in the NFL. Just looking at him can strike fear into any opposing offense. In 12 games against the Bengals, Garrett has 13 sacks and two forced fumbles.<\/p>\n
The Bengals have fared better against Garrett in recent games against him and the Browns. Garrett was held without a sack in the game in Cleveland last October, and the Bengals have a solid tackle tandem in Orlando Brown Jr. and Amarius Mims that can help keep Garrett from disrupting the game plan.<\/p>\n
Through his first eight seasons, the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft has been named to six Pro Bowls and four First-Team All-Pro teams. Garrett was named the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year, and he signed a four-year, $160 million contract extension this past offseason, which includes over $123 million in guaranteed money.<\/p>\n
2. #34: Running Back Jerome Ford \u2014 5-10, 210 lbs. Cincinnati<\/p>\n
2024 Stats: 104 rush, 565 yds, 3 TD; 37 rec., 225 yds<\/p>\n
Now with Nick Chubb in Houston, Ford is the Browns\u2019 starting running back. He\u2019s ready to take on this role, though, because he started 12 games in 2023 after Chubb\u2019s season ended two games in with a knee injury. In 2023, Ford rushed for 813 yards with four touchdowns, while also hauling in 44 receptions for 319 yards and five touchdowns. In addition, Ford has four career rushes of 60-plus yards, which is tied with Nick Chubb for the most by a Brown since the franchise came back to Cleveland in 1999.<\/p>\n
Ford played college football at Cincinnati after two seasons at Alabama, and he helped lead the Bearcats to the 2021 College Football Playoff. He set Bearcats single-season records with 19 rushing touchdowns and 20 total touchdowns in 2021.<\/p>\n
3. #3: Wide Receiver Jerry Jeudy \u2014 6-1, 195 lbs. Alabama<\/p>\n
2024 Stats: 90 rec., 1,229 yds, 4 TD<\/p>\n
Coming off the best season of his five-year career, which followed signing a three-year, $52 million contract extension with the Browns after a trade prior to the 2024 season. Jeudy had his first 1,000-yard season in 2024, crushing the threshold with 1,229 yards on 90 receptions and four touchdowns. Those numbers earned Jeudy his first Pro Bowl selection, and his 90 receptions are a Browns single-season record.<\/p>\n
At Alabama, Jeudy was a Consensus All-American in 2018 and a First-Team All-American in 2019. Jeudy was a member of Alabama\u2019s College Football Playoff National Championship team in 2017, and he won the Fred Biletnikoff Award in 2018 on a Crimson Tide Team that played for a national championship.<\/p>\n
In 2020, Jeudy was the 15th overall pick by the Denver Broncos in the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n
4. #21: Cornerback Denzel Ward \u2014 5-11, 190 lbs. Ohio State<\/p>\n
2024 Stats: 19 PD, 2 INT, 1 FF, 1 FR, 49 TKL, 1 TFL, 1 QBH<\/p>\n
Ja\u2019Marr Chase has called Ward his toughest matchup, and for good reason. Ward has been named to four Pro Bowls in his first seven seasons with the Browns, including in each of the last two seasons. In addition, Ward is under contract through the 2027 season with the five-year extension he signed in 2022.<\/p>\n
Ward\u2019s 95 passes defended lead the NFL since he came into the league in 2018, including an NFL-leading 19 passes defended in 2024. In addition, Ward is the only player since 1999 to have at least 10 passes defended and two interceptions in each of his first seven seasons.<\/p>\n
Head Coach: Kevin Stefanski (6th season)<\/p>\n
Easily the most successful head coach since the Browns returned to Cleveland in 1999, Stefanski is a two-time AP Coach of the Year winner and one of only two head coaches in Browns history\u2014the other being Paul Brown\u2014to have had two seasons with 11 wins. Through his first five seasons with the Browns, Stefanski is 40-44 with two Postseason appearances, including a road playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2020.<\/p>\n
The fact that Stefanski is heading into his sixth season as the Browns\u2019 head coach is unprecedented. Only two other head coaches in Browns history have been in that role for that long: Paul Brown (1946-1962) and Sam Rutigliano (1978-1984).<\/p>\n
What Stefanski did in 2020 and 2023 is why he remains the Browns\u2019 head coach going into 2025. Stefanski\u2019s first season, 2020, was heavily impacted by COVID-19 and the league-wide protocols that came with it. Despite all of that, the Browns still went 11-5 and snapped the franchise\u2019s 18-year drought without a playoff appearance. That team had two First-Team All-Pros and three Pro Bowlers, along the way scoring the second-most single-season points (408) and second-most scrimmage touchdowns (48), while gaining the second-most first downs (355) in franchise history. The Browns\u2019 148.4 rushing yards per game were third in the NFL and the franchise\u2019s best total since 1978.<\/p>\n
Three years later, the Browns won 11 games despite having five different starting quarterbacks. That team had seven Pro Bowlers, including Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett. Joe Flacco became the team\u2019s starting quarterback down the season, and his four straight 300-yard passing games earned him Comeback Player of the Year. Cleveland\u2019s defense was the story in their 2023 season, finishing with 270.2 yards per game allowed, which was the lowest since the Seattle Seahawks\u2019 famed Legion of Boom in 2014.<\/p>\n
Prior to Cleveland, Stefanski spent 14 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. He began as an assistant to the head coach in 2006, under Brad Childress, and worked his way up to become the Vikings\u2019 offensive coordinator in 2019. In that 2019 season, quarterback Kirk Cousins set his career high with a 107.4 passer rating and a career-low six interceptions.<\/p>\n
Stefanski played at Penn, where the Quakers won three Ivy League titles and compiled a 42-7 record from 2000 to 2003. He was a team captain in 2003.<\/p>\n
Offensive Coordinator: Tommy Rees (1st season) – 33 years old<\/p>\n
Rees joined the Browns prior to 2024 as their pass game specialist and tight ends coach. He was Alabama\u2019s offensive coordinator in 2023, following a three-year stint as Notre Dame\u2019s offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n
At Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish offense averaged over 30 points per game in each of Rees\u2019s three seasons as offensive coordinator, and went to the College Football Playoff in 2020. Rees was also the quarterbacks coach from 2017 to 2019, helping Ian Book become the all-time winningest quarterback in Notre Dame history with a 30-5 record and passing for nearly 9,000 yards.<\/p>\n
Rees began his career as an offensive assistant with the then-San Diego Chargers in 2016 and as a graduate assistant at Northwestern in 2015. As Notre Dame\u2019s quarterback from 2010-2013, Rees finished second with 61 touchdown passes and third with 7,531 passing yards.<\/p>\n
Defensive Coordinator: Jim Schwartz (3rd season) – 59 years old<\/p>\n
Schwartz is one of the best defensive coordinators of his generation. This is his second stint with the Browns, after serving as a college\/pro scout from 1993-1995.<\/p>\n
So far, through two seasons in Cleveland, the Browns rank first in the NFL in first downs allowed (556), first in third-down percentage (32.6%), second in passing yards allowed per game (188.6), and third in total yards allowed per game (306.1). Last year alone, the Browns were the only team not to allow a 300-yard passer, with Myles Garrett leading the NFL with 22 tackles for loss and Denzel Ward leading the NFL with 19 passes defended.<\/p>\n
Schwartz is best known for serving as the Philadelphia Eagles\u2019 defensive coordinator for five seasons (2016-2020), during which Brandon Graham made the game-changing strip-sack on Tom Brady in the Eagles\u2019 Super Bowl LII victory. He was the head coach of the Detroit Lions from 2009 to 2013, leading the Lions to the Playoffs in 2011 for their first Postseason berth in the 21st Century.<\/p>\n
After his first stint with the Browns, Schwartz\u2019s first NFL coaching job was as the Baltimore Ravens\u2019 outside linebackers coach from 1996 to 1998. He was then on the Tennessee Titans\u2019 defensive coaching staff for the next 10 seasons, including the last eight as their defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n
While in Cleveland the first time, Schwartz worked with head coach Bill Belichick, defensive coordinator Nick Saban, and several members of the personnel department who went on to become NFL general managers, including Ozzie Newsome, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, George Kokinis, Mike Lombardi, and Phil Savage.<\/p>\n
Special Teams Coordinator: Bubba Ventrone (3rd season) – 42 years old<\/p>\n
Ventrone played for the Browns from 2009 to 2012, appearing in 56 games and recording 31 special teams tackles.<\/p>\n
As the Browns\u2019 special teams coordinator, Ventrone helped punter Corey Bojorquez lead the NFL with 16 punts inside the 10-yard line and finished third with 36 punts inside the 20-yard line.<\/p>\n
In 2023, kicker Dustin Hopkins set a franchise record with 33 field goals and another franchise record with eight 50-yard field goals. Hopkins set an NFL record with a 50-yard field goal in five straight games, and the Browns led the NFL with three blocked field goals.<\/p>\n
Prior to Cleveland, Ventrone served as the Indianapolis Colts\u2019 special teams coordinator, with the Colts leading the NFL in kickoff return average (24.9) and ranking fourth in punt return average (10.3). NFL analyst Rick Gosselin ranked Indianapolis eighth in the NFL in special teams in 2022, second in 2021, and fourth in 2020.<\/p>\n
Ventrone served as a special teams assistant for the New England Patriots from 2015 to 2017, during which the Patriots won Super Bowl LI in 2016. He was also a member of the Patriots\u2019 Super Bowl XLII team.<\/p>\n
1. Protect. The. Franchise.<\/p>\n
This goes without saying. Truthfully, this key doesn\u2019t need to be explained further. However, I will echo what Ted Karras said during training camp, which is that Joe Burrow represents the hopes and dreams of the Bengals. That right there is why it is paramount to protect the franchise and keep Burrow upright.<\/p>\n
2. Run the ball\u2026 and stop the run.<\/p>\n
Chase Brown has to get the ball in his hands on Sunday. That will take some of the pressure off of Burrow against Garrett and the Browns\u2019 pass rush. Brown can run the football at a high level, and he can make it tougher for the Browns\u2019 defense to limit the Bengals\u2019 high-flying offense.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the Bengals\u2019 defense must stop the run. Plain and simple. If Jerome Ford gets going, that could be troublesome. The Bengals\u2019 defense has to make Joe Flacco win the game with his arm. He\u2019s not going to scare the Bengals defense with his legs, but he can with his arm. The Browns running the ball will set him up to take some shots down the field. That can\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n
3. Score on your first drive.<\/p>\n
This would send a clear message that this Bengals team is going to put the slow start narratives on the back burner. The Bengals haven\u2019t scored a first-half touchdown in Week 1 since 2021, and they haven\u2019t scored a first-quarter touchdown in Week 1 since 2020.<\/p>\n
Scoring on their first drive would be a real confidence boost and a deflating blow to the Browns. In the two games last season against Cleveland, Charlie Jones returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown at Cleveland in Week 7. Nine weeks later, Burrow led the Bengals on a 99-yard opening drive that ended with him flying like Superman on a touchdown pass to Tee Higgins.<\/p>\n
Something like that will definitely boost the confidence of this team, especially in Week 1.<\/p>\n
After scoring on their first drive, the Bengals need to keep their foot on the gas. Don\u2019t give the Browns any hope they can win this game. The Bengals are the more talented and healthier team. Score early, finish, and get out of Cleveland with a win.<\/p>\n
Score Prediction: Bengals 27 – Browns 13<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time to put the slow start narratives behind this team. This team is ready to take on the challenge. You hear it in what Joe Burrow has been saying, the void left by the injury report, and the urgency with which the starters played during the preseason. It will show again on Sunday.<\/p>\n